Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and coat a shallow baking pan with nonstick spray.

Trim a thin slice from both ends of each acorn squash, then cut them in half crosswise and scoop out the seeds. Place the squash, cut side down on the prepared baking sheet and bake until very tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, 30 to 35 minutes. Turn the squash halves cut side up and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

While the squash bakes, saute the sausage over medium heat, breaking it up with a spatula as finely as possible as it cooks. Once the sausage is cooked through, transfer it to paper towel-lined platter. Discard most of the fat remaining in the pan, retaining about 1 tablespoon.

Add the onion to the pan and saute over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Add the celery and continue cooking until the celery and onion are lightly caramelized. Add the apple, cook for 2 to 3 minutes longer, then return the sausage to the pan and combine well. Taste and season with freshly ground black pepper.

Divide the sausage mixture between the squash halves and return them to the oven. Bake until the apples are tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, 10 to 12 minutes. Plate and serve immediately.

In a master's program of over 275 people, there is always someone hosting a dinner, a party or a happy hour. I may be a reluctant cook when I'm home by myself, but I love to cook for others when I get the opportunity! And all the better when I can use my dietitian super powers to feed someone special!

One of my good friends is a celiac, and when I know she is attending, I am sure to bring something gluten-free! This time the theme was Mexican - a great potluck theme for anyone going gluten-free. Corn tortillas can easily replace flour tortillas in any recipe, and the rest of the fixings tend to be naturally gluten-free. For this enchilada recipe, I just made sure to check the ingredients label to make sure the sauce was safe too.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

I just finished testing this recipe to prepare for my demo tomorrow - it actually turned out really well, I would even say it exceeded my expectations!I learned about the "Simply Cook" online cookbook from a fellow dietitian, and former classmate. The cookbook is kind of like a dietitian's dream come true - it includes cooking basics, nutrition education, food safety and storage information, and most importantly, recipes! The recipes are even designed to focus on food staples found in many food pantries!I chose the Mexican Skillet Rice for the demonstration for tomorrow because previous participants asked for one-pot meals that were affordable and easy to make. This recipe was a little vague on some details, so I added amounts for the tomato and cheese. I also recommend cooking the onions prior to adding the turkey if you want them to brown well. I estimated that the recipe would produce four portions, but they are very large portions, and are proportionately higher in calories in fat. A more healthy option may be to decrease the portion size. Additionally, half the portion size means half the cost - it would be only $1.75 for 1/8 recipe. I am still getting the hang of combining education and discussion during the demonstrations, but I hope to talk about:- Use of beans to replace some or all of meat in a recipe- Rinsing off canned beans to reduce sodium- Trying to replace white rice with brown rice in recipes- Cooking rice and chopping onion the night before to speed up the cooking process.

We made these smoothies at work on Monday as part of an Employee Health Fair during Commitment Week. It generated a lot of great discussion, but people were not too eager to try it because of the strong kale smell and the bright green color. We also used 2% milk because we didn't have almond milk, and a lot of people were hesitant to try it because they were lactose intolerant. Next time we make smoothies, I want experiment with almond milk or soy milk, try using spinach and experiment with a combination of fruits.

I think the "Cupcakes" turned out pretty well, but they really look and taste more like muffins. They would be great for a quick breakfast and are a lot better than some of those oatmeal breakfast bar recipes I've tried. I ended up doubling the recipe, which made 26 muffins.

I ended up using almost an entire zucchini, two small apples, shredded carrots and chopped raisins, and I definitely recommend using some kind of dried fruit to add some sweetness. It seems like a lot of people just use the leftover fruits and vegetables from their juice smoothies, which I think is a great idea!

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

In case you didn't know, it's National Nutrition Month! Every year, RD's spend the month of March making posters and handouts, cooking up delicious food for others to sample, and devoting their time to educating the public and their fellow employees through health fairs and lunch and learns.

Please tell me what other health profession invests so much time and effort into helping others during the month they should be celebrated? Ahh.. to be a dietitian.

So naturally, we dietitians will be at the employee health fair next week... our focus will be fiber and we're planning on baking high fiber cupcakes for everyone to try. Because after all who doesn't want to feel full and poop on the regular?

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 24-cup mini muffin pan with paper liners or mist with cooking spray.

Whisk the flours, wheat germ, pats, flax seeds, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Beat the egg and brown sugar in a medium bowl with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the olive oil, vanilla, milk, vegetables and fruit and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and stir just until blended

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling each cup about three-quarters of the way. Sprinkle the tops with brown sugar, if desired. Bake for 20 to 24 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

I always tell my patients, the worst thing that can happen to their diet is complacence. When you stop working to improve your diet, it will inevitably go in the opposite direction. So I recently set some goals for myself to improve my own diet.

1) Eat more meals at home
2) Cook more meals at home
3) Use more home-cooked meats, rather than processed/packaged meats
4) Bulk up on vegetables at lunch and dinner
5) Use only whole grain products at home

A lot of this has to do with finding products and recipes I enjoy, but also making time to prepare meals ahead of time. At first, this meant using a lot of frozen vegetables and microwaveable rice, and cooking meat in large batches for several days. But eating 90-second brown rice and frozen broccoli everyday can get a little boring, even if it does help me meet my goals. So now that I have a regimen that I am comfortable and happy with, it's time to shake it up a bit.

Asparagus is going to be in season in Maryland soon (this asparagus was from Mexico), so I recently was looking up recipes to use at the produce market at work. We planned to hand out recipes, and have a recipe prepared to taste test. I found a recipe that used uncooked, peeled asparagus in a salad, but I was concerned with how labor intensive it might be. So, I tried peeling zucchini yesterday for my shrimp scampi, and today I bought asparagus to peel and added in some grape tomatoes to my leftover shrimp. Both were delicious!

Peeled asparagus or zucchini are perfect for a saute, in a pasta dish to substitute for some of the noodles, or cold in a salad! I hope this inspires you to try something new, whether it involves asparagus or not!